Family of 5 in Switzerland for 6 Days

Do you have any desire to explore the Simmental area at all while staying in Boltigen? You will be driving right through Erlenbach every day as you drive back and forth to the Interlaken/Lauterbrunnen/Grindelwald area. If you are interested you can go up the Stockhorn mountain, one of my favourites. The gondola station is in Erlenbach, you will see it as you drive by - 15 minutes away (Lauterbrunnen is 50 minutes).

https://stockhorn.ch

Didn't have it in my mind but since we will pass through it anyway, we can squeeze it into our schedule! thank you for your input :)

A car will be useless, in fact a burden in Paris, Brussels, Amsterdam, and Cologne. 4 major European cities in 6 days with significant drive time in between each of them and Switzerland. Hmmm.

I believe your car will need a German Umweltsplakatte (environmental sticker), unless you stay outside the city and use local trains to visit. You will probably need to do that for all of these cities.
https://www.environmentalbadge.com/environmental-zone-cologne/

Sounds like a fun trip!

I have rented a car several times in Europe (driving to all of your listed cities save one) and have not found it useless. I certainly know that many folks think renting a car and driving is Europe is undesirable given the excellent rail network. Personally I like both the trains and cars.

Have a great trip!

Thank you David! It’s a breath of relief to hear this because I have mostly heard to ditch the car and take public transport instead but with 5 adults, train is just too much expensive, and too much work in terms of figuring out a way to get to/from Airbnb to/from station, etc.

All I want to know is that my iteranary is doable, please or not, anything I need to add or subtract or replace, as simple as that. Please do not mention car vs train, I have already taken things into consideration and done the math. If it were just my husband and I then I would have done train but it is 5 adults we are talking about. Thank you

Car or train, 4 major European cities in 6 days sounds like "If today is Tuesday, this must be Belgium." Doable? If your traveling companions like sitting in a car riding around Europe with little time to actually enjoy what these cities have to offer.

Sam makes a good point-- though pacing is always a personal choice,

While I enjoyed my visits to both Cologne and Brussels, I think you may want to allocate more time to Amsterdam and Paris. For instance, a pass through stop/day trip through Cologne visiting/climbing the cathedral and maybe the old town and not staying the night may be way to make more time for Amsterdam or Paris. Brussels is nice but it's not Amsterdam or Paris.

Have fun!

I have allocated 2 nights in Paris, 1 night in Brussels, 2 nights in Amsterdam and 1 night in cologne. Only seeing the major stuff in Brussels and cologne like grand palace and cologne cathedral. Brussels is on the way from Paris to Amsterdam and cologne is on the way from Amsterdam to Zurich hence the reason why I chose to stop over and spend a night (to rest) in those two locations.

Makes sense! Enjoy your trip!

Hello again,

With five adults, it’s completely understandable why you’d prefer to drive—train costs can quickly add up with a group that size.

Boltigen is a beautiful area, as is the entire region. You’ll find many charming Swiss villages there, with few tourists around. I hope you’ll take some time to explore locally. While your planned outings are excellent, keep in mind that you’ll be transitioning from a tranquil, rural area surrounded by stunning nature and Swiss locals to more tourist-heavy destinations. Places like Lauterbrunnen, the Bachalpsee hike, and the Panorama Trail are incredibly popular, most of the people you encounter there will be other tourists. Of course, these spots are famous for good reason, but sometimes I think it’s simply because many visitors aren’t aware of the other options.

Day 2
Sounds wonderful! The hike from Iseltwald to Giessbach Falls is lovely, following the lake and often winding through forested areas—very picturesque.

Day 3
This day should take less time as these sights are close together. I like to start at the end of the valley in Stechelberg (at the last bus stop, or perhaps you could park there) and then walk back towards Lauterbrunnen. Along the way, you’ll pass Staubbach Falls. It’s a flat, one-hour walk, but plan for more time to enjoy the views and possibly go up to the falls if you’re interested. You should still have time for additional activities afterward.
Another parking option is in Matten, right next to Interlaken, where there is a park-and-ride. The train for this short journey is reasonably priced and offers much more flexibility while you’re in the Lauterbrunnen Valley, as you won’t need to backtrack to retrieve your car. All destinations in Grindelwald and the Lauterbrunnen Valley are easily accessible from this location.

Day 4
Great idea! You could also add the “Royal Walk” viewpoint to your day. It’s a short extension of 1.44 km (0.9 miles) with an elevation gain of 112 meters (367 feet). In my opinion, it’s definitely worth it. When you return to Wengen after hiking, you’ll have time to explore the village as well.

Day 5
Whenever I visit First Mountain, I try to arrive within half an hour of the opening time since it’s a very popular spot. I’ve hiked several times to Bachalpsee early in the day, and by the time I’m heading back, the path is usually packed with people.

As always, it’s good to stay flexible with your plans. Check MeteoSwiss for weather forecasts, look at the mountain webcams, and go where the weather looks best for that day.

You’re going to have a fantastic time in the Berner Oberland! Enjoy!

@Swissnomad I highly appreciate your valuable suggestions, especially the one for parking in Lauterbrunnen! This is exactly the insights I was looking for. I love your Idea of staying flexible, these days will be shuffled according to the weather. Our goal also is to find peaceful spots but since it is our first time we want to at least hit the famous two (Lauterbrunnen and Grindlewald).

Our goal of going to Grindlewald is to do the first flyer, do you have any other suggestion around Boltigen that could be a less touristy and similar experience? We would not mind skipping Grindlewald.

My host said the Juan pass is 15 minutes away, if you have any experience please feel free to share :)

Once again, thank you so much!

Also, I was doing some math for mountain excursions, and am undecided between getting the Bernese Oberland Pass or Half fare card, which is better for my itinerary?

Those that get the Bernese Oberland Pass usually also get the half fare card as the half fare card gives you a discount on the BO Pass. And then you have the half fare card for all your journeys outside of the BO Pass area. You’ll have to do some more math to see if that makes sense for you.

Here is the list of activities all converted to dollar value (Some might be slightly wrong as I am relying on Google searches)

• Brienz Cruise Day Pass: $93
• Hardur Kulm Cogwheel Round Trip: $45
• Grindlewald First with 1 Activity adventure Packgage: $92
• Manlichen with Royal Ride and roundtrip transits in Lauterbrunnen and Wengen: $45

Grand Total: $275

Pass Analysis:

Half Fair Card: $139

Half Fair Card + Bernese Oberland: $316

Grand Total with only HFC: $309

Grand Total with HFC + BO: $407

Conclusion: Getting no pass looks good for our itinerary, but I could be wrong.

Instead of google, use the prices provided by the actual operators. Since everything is in Switzerland, use the CHF prices. For Instance, SBB quotes 44 CHF for Harder Kulm r/t, so that is more like $50 pp.

Yes I used their individual websites, just summarizing them as “google”

For a Half Fare Card (120 CFH), you need 240 CHF worth of full fare tickets to make it pay. Looks like you have less than that.